Five ex-Prime Trust directors have been held liable by the Melbourne court for breaching their duties related to the firm's collapse in 2010. ASIC seeks penalties, ban.

Five former directors of Australian Property Custodian Holdings have been found by the Melbourne Federal Court to have breached their duties as officers when the company collapsed in 2010.

According to the Australian Securities and Investment Commission, APCHL breached its duties in exercising its powers and carrying out its task as the responsible entity of Prime Trust, and that the firm and its directors failed to act in the best interests of the members.

The company shut down in 2010 when administrators were appointed owning investors approximately $550 million. APCHL was the responsible entity of the Prime Retirement and Aged Care Property Trust, a managed investment scheme which owned retirement villages across Australia.

The ASIC has sought penalties and the banning of Dr Michael Wooldridge, Peter Clarke, William Lionel Lewski, Mark Frederick Butler and Kim Jaques from managing companies. The penalty hearing begins in early 2014.